UK police charge Nepalese man with torture

British police have charged a serving colonel in the Nepalese army with two counts of torture allegedly committed during the Himalayan nation's civil war.

The case has touched off a diplomatic spat, with the Nepalese government summoning the UK ambassador in Kathmandu to protest.

Kumar Lama, 46, was arrested Thursday at a residential address in the English town of St Leonards-on-Sea, about 115 kilometres southeast of London.

Lama was charged on Friday with intentionally "inflicting severe pain or suffering" on two separate individuals as a public official - or person acting in official capacity.

Britain's Metropolitan Police said the charges relate to one incident that allegedly occurred between April 15 and May 1, 2005 and another that allegedly occurred between April 15 and October 31, 2005 at the Gorusinghe Army Barracks in Nepal.

Lama is due to appear at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday, police added.

British authorities claim "universal jurisdiction" over serious offences such as war crimes, torture, and hostage-taking, meaning such crimes can be prosecuted in Britain regardless of where they occurred.

Scotland Yard has said that the arrest did not take place at the request of Nepalese authorities. Britain's Press Association reported that Nepalese officials said Lama is serving as a military observer under the United Nations Mission in southern Sudan and was on vacation in London.

Britain's Foreign Office confirmed that Nepal's government summoned the UK ambassador in Kathmandu because it was upset over the arrest, but declined to comment further.

Thousands died and thousands more were injured or tortured during Nepal's civil war, a decade-long conflict that ended in 2006.

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